In this edition of “Wise in the News,” our clergy and their writings are featured across a variety of media. Led by an appearance on the “Unorthodox” podcast by Rabbi Sari Laufer, our clergy also appeared on television, on Instagram Live, in mainstream newspapers, online, and in the special Passover edition of the Jewish Journal.
Rabbi Sari Laufer appears on “Unorthodox” podcast episode, “A Passover to Remember”
On Friday, Rabbi Sari Laufer was featured on the world’s leading Jewish podcast, “Unorthodox,” hosted by Mark Oppenheimer, Stephanie Butnick, and Liel Leibovitz of Tablet Magazine. This episode, “A Passover to Remember,” digs into Passover traditions. Topics covered include the tradition of ridding one’s home of chametz, the so-called Feast of the Firstborn (attend ours this Friday), the meaning of the afikoman, and the Wicked Child archetype.
Rabbi Laufer is featured in the final segment, starting at the 59:20 mark. She discusses the Wicked Child archetype with producer Josh Kross. Listen here.
Rabbi Sari Laufer’s Passover op-ed featured in JTA
Also on Friday, Rabbi Laufer’s op-ed on alternative Passover plate options appeared online via the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Here’s a tease:
Olives. Tomatoes. Oranges. Artichokes. Dates. Cotton balls. And, now, sunflowers.
This list might seem like a setup for a logic puzzle or a grocery run. But it is, instead, a (non-exhaustive) list that I have seen of additions to the seder plate, items to highlight and include stories and histories that are not, at least explicitly, part of the Passover seder.
On its surface, it is a noble goal — why shouldn’t we consider the plight of Ukrainians in spring 2022 (sunflowers), or remember the American history of slavery (cotton ball)? Wouldn’t we want to honor the farm workers who put food on our tables (tomatoes), or intertwine the story of the Palestinians along with our own (olives)? In my own family, my mother insists on the orange on the seder plate, regardless of its apocryphal origin as feminist symbol.
But I won’t be adding anything to my plate. As a rabbi, teacher and mother, I’m sticking with the traditional items. … Read more here.
Senior Cantor Emma Lutz featured in Passover edition of Jewish Journal
Following her March 25 Installation, Senior Cantor Emma Lutz was featured in the Los Angeles Daily News. This week, she appeared in a print-edition centerpiece profile for the Jewish Journal, written by Ari Noonan.
On Thursday, Cantor Emma was also a guest on the “This Work is Great” Instagram Live show, produced by the HUC-JIR. Watch here.
Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback’s column on the “Slap Hears ‘Round the World” appears in Jewish Journal
Senior Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback’s take on heroism, and the kinds of events to which we pay attention (sometimes undue, sometimes not enough). He looks at the Will Smith-Chris Rock drama at the Oscars through the lens of the recent tragedy in Israel. Read more here.
Read Rabbi David Woznica in the Jewish Journal
This week’s Jewish Journal hit the Stephen Wise Temple trifecta, with a Passover piece entitled “The Fifth Question,” by our very own Rabbi David Woznica. Take a read here.
In case you missed it …
On March 27, the joint effort by Stephen Wise Temple and Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in New Jersey to raise funds for Ukrainian refugees through United Hatzalah of Israel’s Operation Orange Wings was featured on CBS Los Angeles. Watch the full video here, with reporter Brittney Hopper. Get an update on the Ukrainian refugees here.